


Doves and Vermin

by BonitoBurrito



Category: Redwall Series - Brian Jacques
Genre: F/F, F/M, Open to suggestions, Reader-Insert, also in this au the taggerung isn't a thing yet so deyna isn't in it, au where everybody doesn't die and Grissoul is still alIVE, i miss her okay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-02-28
Packaged: 2019-03-18 11:30:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13680795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BonitoBurrito/pseuds/BonitoBurrito
Summary: Grissoul was, without a doubt, one of the oddest beasts you had ever met. Then again, fox seers never really were that...normal, were they?A collection of loosely connected Grissoul/Reader moments.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Finally decided to upload something. I've been working on this for a while, and I decided Valentine's Day would be the perfect day to post it. Hope you all enjoy it.
> 
> Title is definitely subject to change

Grissoul was, without a doubt, one of the oddest beasts you had ever met. Then again, fox seers never really were that...normal, were they?

You hadn’t thought much of the old seer when you were first conscripted into the Juskarath clan. The fox cut a rather strange figure, with a barkcloth cloak covered in various symbols you had no hope of understanding. She wore a thin belt around her waist, loaded up with pouches full of various seer paraphernalia. Though her sleeves normally enveloped her thin, wiry arms within their numerous folds, when her limbs poked out from her cloak you could plainly see that her arms were almost entirely covered in bracelets of varying shapes and sizes. To you, she just seemed to be a normal seer.

You had to admit it: Grissoul...unnerved you, if just a tiny bit. While you normally kept your distance, you sometimes caught a glimpse of the seer standing off to the side, looking in your direction. Every time, without fail, she would rummage through her pouch, throw a handful of bits and baubles on the ground, frown, gather them back up, and wander off once again. You always had a feeling deep in your gut that she was predicting the exact moment of your death whenever she did it.

She hadn’t interacted with you that much, and that was fine by you. You tended to treasure your alone time. One notable instance of Grissoul acknowledging your existence was on a rather muggy night a few summers ago. You were sitting a short while away from the fire, restringing your favorite bow while you waited for your pike to finish roasting. A few other clanbeasts sat by in small clumps, conversing amongst themselves. Grissoul sauntered out of her hut and placed herself close to the fire, to your left. She held out her paws towards the warmth, her thin digits cracking as she flexed them. Exactly why, you had no clue; if you sat any closer to the fire, you’re sure you would’ve melted. Grissoul sighed quietly, staring pensively into the flames. You paid her no mind, continuing to work on your bow. You promised you’d get Vallug back for cutting your last string.

No words were exchanged between you both. After all, there was nothing to say. However, you felt...strangely at peace with the situation. It was a comfortable silence that settled over both of you like a sheet. Your pike crackled away on its spit above the fire. The humid heat of the night was all but forgotten. Your mind was clear as your hands automatically worked over your bow. You let out a deep sigh as your stress melted away. You decided to steal a small glance over at your vulpine companion. Either your eyes were deceiving you, or her eyes had swiftly darted back to the fire just as you laid eyes upon her.


	2. Doves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grissoul teaches you how to properly eat dove eggs.

It wasn’t until the following spring that you interacted meaningfully with Grissoul again. It was a nice, clear day--not too hot, not too cold, and perfect for hunting. Sawney had assigned several beasts to go out on a hunt, including you. The Chieftain had specifically requested for you to find two doves and pilfer their nests for eggs. With a tug of the ear, you were off.

Now you were almost limping back to camp, your body covered in nicks and cuts. In your hands were two small doves, strung together with your once again ruined bowstring, and a handful of small, white eggs. Your body was quaking with rage. It seemed that everything that could’ve gone wrong that day went wrong specifically to spite you.

First, you had whacked your nose on an overhanging tree branch. That set you off on a bad mood immediately. Then, in your infinite wisdom, you tore open a toe on a stick that you neglected to notice on the path. Once you had found the infernal bird perched in its nest, you took aim and prepared to fire. Right then, Gruven had decided that it was a good time to come crashing through the forest covered from head to toe in bees. The dove fled, and you were left with your own fair share of painful bee stings. Once you finally found another one of the damned birds and killed it with a single arrow, you tripped over a tree root and fell flat on your face. On your way further into the woodlands, you somehow failed to notice the sudden drop-off by the bank and fell off of the small overcropping and into the brook below. The second dove you killed proved to be somewhat fruitful; while the bird wasn’t very fat and juicy, its nest was packed to the brim with eggs. Of course, your luck turned sour once again after you found your third dove; your bowstring snapped in twain as you finally had the hellspawn in your sights.

As you stomped back to camp, sopping wet and miserable, you made a solemn swear that you would never take up dove duty again. You shoved the two birds into Sawney’s waiting paws, and held out the eggs. He’d told you to go give them to Grissoul; she’d been asking for them for days. You bit your tongue, lest it get you into any trouble, and stalked back over to the seer’s tent.

Annoyed by the prospect of more walking, you plodded over to Grissoul’s tent. The seer had a fire going inside, making the whole dwelling unbearably hot.

You held the eggs out to the fox impatiently, almost crushing them in your grip.

“Here,” you snarled through your gritted teeth.

Grissoul slowly turned to look up at you before taking the eggs. “Thank thou,” she mumbled, bringing one up to her mouth. She pierced it with one of her sharper teeth before sucking the contents down with a quiet slurp. She turned to face you and held out an egg to you expectantly. “Take it.” 

Your gaze shifted to the small egg in the fox’s paws. You gingerly plucked it from her grip, taking care not to accidentally smash it. You had to calm down; she offered you a treat, and you felt as if crushing the egg in your hand and leaving would hurt her feelings just a tiny bit. Your anger seemed to melt away as you held the egg in your paw. You could barely even remember what you were angry about.

You slowly popped the egg into your mouth, biting down on it as its cold, viscous contents painted the inside of your mouth. Grissoul’s face remained completely neutral. She made no indication that she was feeling anything--happiness, disappointment, confusion, nothing. It was almost as if she was just existing rather than living.

“No. Eat like this” The vixen took another of her eggs and pressed it against a canine tooth. You could plainly see a tiny hole poked through its surface when she removed it from her mouth.

You opened your mouth wide, trying to get a grip on the egg. It slipped around against your teeth as you futilely attempted to penetrate it.

“Come hither. I’ll teach thou.”

You took another step into the tent toward Grissoul as sailors drift towards sirens. You felt the heat hit you like a brick. You expected that it was a rather faithful recreation of what it might be like to live on the surface of the Sun. How Grissoul could stand sitting in her heavy cloak in that heat, you had no idea.

“Here. Sit.”

You numbly flopped onto the dirt floor. You were sitting about a foot apart. She faced towards you, while your body faced the fire in the middle of the tent and your face was turned towards her. 

As you sat together, her frown intensified a little. She said nothing, but you could tell as her eyes traced your body that she noticed your wounds. Your stomach dropped. You felt just a tiny bit guilty for some reason.

She took another egg and held it up to her mouth, opening her maw and poking out another small hole in its surface. You couldn’t help but let your eyes wander across her face as she did so.

“Now thou try.”

You opened your mouth, once again trying to puncture the egg’s shell. You pushed too hard and the egg cracked open all across the right side of your face, covering it in yolk.

Grissoul’s face broke into a small, lopsided smile. Your stomach fluttered a little. That small smile sent a sudden surge of warmth through your body, a warmth you never wanted to leave.

She dug out another egg from one of her pouches, poking a hole in it with her tooth before handing it to you. You placed your mouth against the small hole, sucking gratefully. You had to say, it tasted far better without the shell fragments.

Grissoul’s eyes shifted to focus on something behind you. You spun around, jumping to your feet.

You mumbled your apologies to Sawney as you hastily left the tent, wandering off to do something more productive.

You never complained about dove duty again.


	3. Scallops

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sweet lord, I really didn't mean to get this far off-schedule. I meant to upload this a day after the last chapter. I'll do my best to actually release new chapters on time from now on.
> 
> Hope you like this chapter, even though it's like 2 weeks late

The midsummer sun was bearing down on you and your colleagues, the light glistening off of your sweaty fur.

You silently cursed your luck as you stood shoulder-deep in seawater. In one hand you held a small bag, slowly being filled with scallops along the rocks, and in the other was your favorite dagger. You scraped another mollusk off of a nearby rock, plopping it into your basket with the others. Another wave crashed down against your back, scattering a few scallops across the water.

Somebeast behind you let out a frustrated groan. You knew from that whining inflection that it was Antigra.

“Gruven!” Her shrill voice pierced your eardrums. “Keep your grip on that bag!”

Gruven complained back to his mother from somewhere off to your right. You could barely hear what he said, though, because at that very moment the ocean had suddenly decided that it desperately needed your attention and another wave crashed over you.

The stoat’s continuing gripes once again met your ears as the seawater drained out of them. You were just about to give him a piece of your mind--

“You three hurry up with those scallops!”

You looked back up at the shore. Grissoul was standing there, paws cupped around her mouth.

There was a great sloshing sound to your left as Gruven took a few steps towards the shallows, his upper body emerging from the water. “If you want your precious scallops so badly, why don’t you just come down here and get them yourself?!” he yelled back at the seer, pointing at her accusingly. “And another thing, you lazy--waah!”

You cackled with delight as another wave broke across Gruven’s back, pulling him under the surface before spitting him back out onto the shore.

“Gruven!” Antigra wailed, annoyed by her son’s stupidity. She began doing a rapid breaststroke towards shore, sticking close to the rocks for cover.

Your laughter persisted until karma decided to take action. Your body was quickly enveloped by another huge wave which crested far above your head. You were buffeted by the harsh current for what felt like an eternity before you were finally deposited on the shore.

The first thing you noticed as you stared up into the sky was the splitting headache you suddenly had. You tried to take a deep breath, but it got caught in your throat as you laid there, spluttering furiously.

You felt something push down on your chest. Hard. _Really_ hard, in fact. You rolled over on your side as a waterfall erupted from your mouth, splashing water all along the sand.You gratefully sucked in mouthfuls of air, coughing all the while.

Once your fit was over, you sat back up, looking out towards shore. Your bag had washed up nearby, though it was considerably lighter than you had left it. You set a hand against your forehead, sighing deeply.

A warm hand wrapped itself around your right forearm. You jerked it away out of instinct, glaring at its owner.

Your gaze softened as your eyes fell upon Grissoul. She had forsaken her normal heavy robe for a somewhat lighter one, which lacked sleeves. The many bracelets around her arms gleamed slightly in the sunlight. She still had her hood on, covering her brow.

“Art thou alright?” she asked. There was a small hint of concern behind her words.

“...Yeah...yeah, I’m alright.”

Her outstretched paw slowly pulled away, placing itself in her lap.

“Did thou save any?”

You jumped up as you realized your mistake. You scooped up the small bag in your hands just moments before the waves threatened to wash it out to sea.

You held the sopping wet bag out to Grissoul. She slowly got to her feet and gingerly took it from your grip. She weighed it in one paw before taking a peek inside.

“They art sufficient. Thank thou.” Her voice was barely above a mumble.

“No problem. To be honest, I wish you would’ve been short one; would’ve loved to see Gruven try to go get more.”

You looked over your shoulder where Gruven had washed up. Antigra had resuscitated him, and he was throwing some choice curse words at the ocean. He took a few steps forward and tried to kick the water, but fearfully scrambled away as the tide came back in.

You chuckled a little bit, turning back towards Grissoul. She had a scallop in her paw, examining its texture. After a moment, she let it slip from her hand and fall to the ground. She delivered a swift stomp to its hard shell, cracking it slightly and covering it with sand.

“It looks like ye need one more scallop.”

A smile spread across both of your faces as you dissolved into a fit of giggles. You knew Gruven was going to keep you up all night whining about it, but it was worth it.


End file.
